Resin cast drinking skulls

[Mercykiller]

My process on molding and casting a to scale drinking skull out of polyurethane resin, Safe for cold foods and drinks only. Cold hand wash only.
Resin, when mixed properly is inert once cured, but introduction of heat allows the resin to bend and deform which is a partial reactivation.
Trying to find a 100% food safe resin but so far no luck or it's upwards of $60AUD for less than 250ml

Silicone mold


Plaster jacket


Master, mold/jacket, final cast


Painted, with acrylics and sealed with a clear coat. Holds approximately 500ml comfortably

[Ziguff]

the finish looks good.

when you want to overcome the heat problem you can try epoxy (mostly suitable to 200 °C).
there are many resins (liquid and viscous) which are suitable for food application and casting processes.
also a noncoloured/filled epoxy (quartz-flour, etc.) is already gray-beige.

problems could be, that a non flexibilized (but flexibilized till crash-resistent epoxy is industrial standard like in automotive application) resin is very brittle and epoxy is not the cheapest material.

is it possible to cast something like a little ceramic-bowl inside the skull?
this could be an alternative which is heat and cleaning resistant.

[Urok/Worgahr]

She is playing in Australia i guess she wont need a bowl for hot drinks cause of the temperatures.

I was there in april 97. April for australiens means autumn
For germans its spring. And it was very hot there

[Urok/Worgahr]

She is playing in Australia i guess she wont need a bowl for hot drinks cause of the temperatures.

I was there in april 97. April for australiens means autumn
For germans its spring. And it was very hot there.


Nice predator Bust

[Mercykiller]

the finish looks good.

when you want to overcome the heat problem you can try epoxy (mostly suitable to 200 °C).
there are many resins (liquid and viscous) which are suitable for food application and casting processes.
also a noncoloured/filled epoxy (quartz-flour, etc.) is already gray-beige.

problems could be, that a non flexibilized (but flexibilized till crash-resistent epoxy is industrial standard like in automotive application) resin is very brittle and epoxy is not the cheapest material.

is it possible to cast something like a little ceramic-bowl inside the skull?
this could be an alternative which is heat and cleaning resistant.

Epoxy resins in my experience take upwards of 30mins to cure properly, and when you're rotocasting (rotation casting) hollow objects this time extends because it cures thematically and moving the resin cools it down prolonging the cure time.

I used Barnes (Aussie brand) Easy cast quick set resin because while it is not 100% food safe, it is the safest resin I have come across that is also super resilient to being dropped.
I've found 2 brands of resin that are food safe by Aus standards and I would like to use them ideally but it's mostly costs that is preventing me atm, shipping to aus is comparable to selling a kidney on the black market haha.

Not allowing it near heat means it is not dishwasher safe, and I would not recommend putting it in hot water or putting hot foods in it which will slowly warp the resin.
I'm also looking for bowls/cups that can be put into the skull for ease of cleaning. though a simple rinse worked well enough for myself and my orcs at our last event

[Mercykiller]

She is playing in Australia i guess she wont need a bowl for hot drinks cause of the temperatures.

I was there in april 97. April for australiens means autumn
For germans its spring. And it was very hot there.


Nice predator Bust

Summer is a nightmare and I hate it so much haha. Been blessed with a couple overcast days recently so it's cool enough for now.

Hot drinks I would put into a decent sized mug anyway and reserve the skull for beer and RP ceremonies

Predator bust is my housemates, there's also a full costume, than an an alien to go with.

[Urok/Worgahr]

Oh an predator and Xenomorph costume? Nice

[Ziguff]

the problem with dishwashers is less the heat and more the strong bases and the other stuff in the tabs and powders for cleaning your dishes.
this could be very bad for your PU, maybe the epoxy and probably the clear coat.
a normal dish soap should be the best choice.

of course there are epoxies which cure in less than 30 min, but it could be challenging to find a flexibilized AND fast curing AND liquid AND food safe AND non-/bone-coloured epoxy which is also available for consumers (AND for small money).

as far as i can tell, you can accelerate the curing of every two-component resin with heat.
especially epoxies do not reach full curing without post-curing at about >100 °C.

its hard to tell the real risk, but "food-safe" means it was tested for safety (like no rest of epychlorhydrin from the process of making the resins).
most of the epoxies are free from small molecules (linke in the PET-bottles we use everyday) which could get free from the resin, because everything is bound reactive into the structure of the resin.
especially when you put your beautiful babies out for 2, or 3 times a year, i do not see any risk fo your health in case of a (full cured) non-food-safe resin.

of course clay could be an alternative (for the whole skull or the bowl inside).